Lumber shake



R. A. WILDE July 21, 1953 LUMBER SHAKE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed 000. 2,1951 INVENTOR.

RAYMOND A. WILDE BY ATTORNEY 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 R. A. WILDE LUMBER SHAKEIN VEN TOR.

July 21, 1953 Filed Oct. 2, 1951 RAYMOND A.W|LDE BY ATTORNEY PatentedJuly 21, 1953 UNITED I L PATENT OFFICE LUMBER SHAKE Raymond A. Wilde,swat, Wash. H Application Qctober z,195l,fSerial No.249,364

This invention relates broadly 'to side "wan shakes, and toexteriorlumber siding-material for building walls, and also toprefabricatedsura facing members and panels designed to produce thegeneral appearance and effect 'on a side wall of a surface covered withwooden shakes.-

' More specifically, this invention relate's to prefabricated individualwooden members designed to be used on a side wall in place of ordinaryshakes. There are several disadvantages in'the use of ordinary shakesfor surfacing a building wall. Due to the fact that ordinary shakes aremade in random widths-and lengths and aretapered quite thin at one end,it is almost impossible to manufacture them with their sides accuratelyparallel and perpendiculartoithe buttend. As a result the proper layingof ordinary shakes requires considerable laborexpense. Care must betaken not only tonset the shakes. straight with respect to adjacentshakes but eachv row must also be properly spacedand horizontally.alined. Since in ordinary shakes the endopposite the butt end is taperedquite thin it is of course impossible to have tongue andgroove joints oreven overlapping joints *along theadjacent side edges of the shakes. Asa consequence ordinary shakes must benlaid in double courses .1Z-Claims. (01. 20-4) in order to make a water tight surfacing. Thereareother well known-objectionsto theuse of ordinary shakes. 3

An object of the present invention isto provide a prefabricatedwoodensidewallsurfacing which can be used in place of ordinary'shakesurfacing and which will avoidthe objectionable features involved in theuse of ordinary shakes but which will produce .a surfacing resembling asurface of ordinary shakes in general appearance. p I

A related object of the invention is to provide an improved lumbershake, which can be used very advantageously in place. of.. ordinaryshakes for. surfacing a building wall and which will also provide aheavier, more satisfactory and more durable wall surfacing.

Another object of the invention is tog provide a wooden side wall shakewhich will have tight lateral joints with the adjacent membersoon bothSideS.' I: LC. j'f I A further ObjECtyOfthe invention is-to provide animproved. wooden side wallshakeiwhich will have the same' thicknessthroughout. its extent, thus enabling a much larger portion of thes-hakemember to belaid to the weatheriiwithout any reduction in weathertightness orr in durability of the exposed surface, and consequentlywith a more efficient use of the surface-area of such wooden member. Anadditional'objectis to provide an improved lumber shake from whichsurface water will f drain quickly, and'which will have less tendency torot than some other surfacing which imitates shingles and shakes inappearance.

' 'Another object of the inventionis to provide an improved substitutefor ordinary shakes on a side wall which 'willrequire less skill andless time in laying than ordinary shakes.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a woodenshakewhich can be made from smallpieces of boards which might otherwisebe considered waste lumber and which would therefore have considerableeconomic as wellras commercial value. i The manner in which the aboveindicated oo-' jects are attained and the manner in which my improvedlumber shake is made and used in constructing the desired shake-likewoodenside wall surface, will be understood from the followingdescription with reference to the accompanying drawings. s In thedrawings:

- Fig. 1 is a perspective view of av lumber shake formed in accordancewith my invention, the view being taken from the top end of the shake;Fig. 2 is a top end elevation of the same shake drawn to a larger scale;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary perspective view of one of the upper corners ofthe shakes; I Fig. 4 is an elevation of the front face =0 the shakedrawn to a smaller scale; I

Fig. 5 is an elevation of a portion of a building wall surfaced with mylumber shakes; and Fig. 6 is a vertical section of the same wall surfacetaken on line B6 of Fig. 5. g r 7 Referring first to Figs. 1, 2, 3, and4 my improved'lumber shake is formed from a rectangular piece of boardof uniform thickness, having a tongue 10 and a corresponding groove l lextending along opposite longitudinal side edges for the entire lengthof the piece of board, and having a top end 12 and a bottom or butt endI3 cut at right angles to the side edges. The piece of board comprisingthe entire body of-j'mv shake may be of any Width and is out toa lengthsomewhat greater (thus, for example, froininch to 1 /2 inch or more)than the desired length for which it is intended to havethe finishedshake laid to the weather.

One face of the piece of board is fluted as indicated as a whole by thereference character H. so that the resulting fluted surface willresemble, in general appearance, the face of an ordinary shake.Preferably in the fluting or grooving of the surface the bottoms of thetroughs or valleys I5 are cut to such depth that they will all lie inthe same plane (see Fig. 2), which plane will extend parallel to theopposite or rear face of the board. Such a plane is indicated by theline 16 in Fig. 3. The reason for this will be explained later.

After the iiuting H is completed the flutedsurface is then cut away in atransversely-extending path of uniform width along the top edge, so asto form a strip I! having a flat plane bottom sur face which preferablyextends in the same plane as the bottoms of the troughs or valleys l5.This cut away strip I! may be of any width desired,

Lumber shakes formed in this mannerv from board pieces of the samelength and of the same thickness, and either of uniform or variouswidths, and consequently with all of the shakes being in the shape ofperfect rectangles, with identical tongues and identical grooves ontheir respective longitudinal side edges, are arranged and mounted asillustrated in Figs. 5 and 6 so as to form the desired shake-likesurface. The lumber shakes are laid in overlapping horizontal rowsbeginning at the bottom of the wall to be covered. The individualmembers in each row are set close together so that a tight tongue andgroove joint will result between each two members. The bottom or buttends of the members in each successive row extend entirely over thetransverse strip H at the top of the preceding or underlying row withthe butt ends engaging the top ends of the ridges or flutes of thefluted surface of the members of the preceding row. Since the memberswill all be exactly the same length, and since the top transverse stripsof all the members are exactly the same width, no particular skill isrequired in setting the rows of shakes in place and no guides for therows are needed once the bottom row has been attached to the wall. Sinceeach shake is a perfect rectangle with the side edges perpendicular tothe top and butt edges no skill is required in arranging each shakeproperly in its row.

The resulting shake-like surfacing, unlike a surfacing of ordinaryshingles or shakes, does not require any undercourse of shingles orshakes due to the fact that the individual members are connected by atongue and groove joint which extends for the entire length of eachmember. Since, as apparent from Fig. 6, the successive rows of shakesall extend in parallel, slightly oblique planes, the overlapping bottomportion of the rear face of one row and the transverse strip I! alongthe top of the underlying row will form a tight overlap with theabutting faces, which are both plane surfaces, extending in the sameplane, and also in both top and bottom layers of such overlap the tighttongue and groove joints are maintained. Thus it is not necessary tohave the transverse strip I! made very wide in order to provide aweather-tight overlap between rows, and this feature enables aneconomical as well as efficient use to be made of the surfacing lumber.

I have observed in the case of some imitation shingles which areprovided with an additional 1 such shingles.

-.sbmke, with the bottoms of the troughs or valleys l5 (Fig. 3) of thefluted surface it all lying in the same plane as the face of the stripll there is no continuous shoulder along the top edge of compositesurfacing extending over the exposed face of the shingle, but notextending over the overlapped portion, that while the omission of thiscomposite outer surfacing along a top strip at the top of the imitationshingle provides a guide for the setting of the next row in much thesame manner as the strip ll does in my improved wooden lumber shake,nevertheless there is a tendency for some water to collect along thehorimm shoulder at the top of the composite outer surface on suchshingles, and this collection of water eventually has a deterioratingeffect on However, with my improved the fluted surface. In other words,each trough or valley l5 acts as a drain channel to draw off any waterwhich mighthave a tendency to remain in the base of the overlap. Thepreventing of anywater collecting at this point, the maintaining of aweather-tight overlap, while still providing a fluted shake-like surfaceover the entire exposed face portion of the shake, are importantfeatures which combine to distinguish my lumber shake from certain otherimitation shakes or shake substitutes which, to my knowledge. haveheretofore been tried out on the market.

My lumber shake can be made from tongue and groove boards of anythickness as well as of any width and any length, the only requirementbeing that pieces of the same thickness and length must be used informing the same surface. Thus pieces of ordinary tongue and grooveflooring, for example, are very satisfactory for making my lumber shake,and, since only short lengths or short pieces are required, my improvedshake consequently can be readily made from pieces of lumber andflooring which have heretofore been regarded as scrap and generallywasted. When made from such scraps my lumber shake will be much thicker,heavier, stronger and more durable than ordinary shakes and will thusgive a more massive effect on a wall surfaced in this manner, sucheffect often being preferred with some types of architecture, and inaddition my lumber shakes provide a more permanent construction asmentioned.

Since the tongue and groove pieces of board from which my lumber shakewill generally be made will ordinarily be of only moderate widths, thelateral shrinkage (and subsequent expansion) of such imitation shake onthe wall, due to changes in temperature and moisture conditions, will bequite negligible and thus the opening up of any cracks in the surfacingwill not occur to any appreciable extent. This fact is also an advantagein enabling the painting of such a finished wall surface to be done morereadily than in the case of ordinary wooden shake wall surfaces wherethe substantial cracks or spaces between individual shakes addconsiderably to the cost of labor and material involved in painting theshake wall surface.

I claim:

'1. A wooden lumber shake of the character described consisting of arectangular piece of board of uniform thickness having a tongue and acorresponding groove extending along the opposite longitudinal sideedges respectively for the entire length of said piece of board, thefront or outer face of said piece of board being fluted, the bottoms ofthe valleys in said fluting located in a common plane parallel to therear face of said piece of board, and a transverse strip cut across theflutin-g at the top edge of said front or outer face, said strip beingof uniform width, the bottom face of said strip extending in the sameplane as the bottoms of said valleys, the upper ends of the ridges ofsaid fluting where said fluting is terminated by said strip therebyconstituting a series of short, spaced transverse shoulders. I g

2. An exterior wall covering consisting of a plurality of lumber shakesset in overlapping horizontal rows, each of said lumber shakescomprising a rectangular body of uniform thickness having a tongue and acorresponding groove extending along the opposite longitudinal sideedges respectively for the entire length of said body, the front orouter face of said body having a fluted surface to simulate somewhat theappearance of a shake, the bottoms of the valleys in said fluted surfacelocated in a common plane, and a transverse strip extending across thefluted surface of said front or outer face at the top edge of said frontor outer face, said strip being of uniform width, the bottom face ofsaid strip extending in the same plane as the bottoms of 6 said valleys,the bottom ends of the shakes of one row overlapping the transversestrips of the shakes of the next lower row and the shakes in each rowset tight together with their adjacent edges forming tongue and groovejoints, whereby the upper ends of the ridges of said fluted surfaceswhere said fluted surfaces are terminated by said transverse strips ofeach row will constitute series of short spaced transverse shoulderswhich will determine the position of the next higher row and both layersin the overlaps of the rows will have tongue and groove joints, andwhereby any water collecting at the base of said overlaps will bedrained off by the valleys in said fluted surfaces.

RAYMOND A. WILDE.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS NumberName Date 169,666 Altman Nov. 9, 1875 1,634,789 Melby July 5, 19271,958,774 Whiting May 15, 1934 2,501,221 Humble Mar. 21, 1950

